


Secret Sock Admirer

by CatrinaSL



Series: Marvel U [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Background Jane Foster/Loki - Freeform, Background Steve Rogers/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Choose Your Own Ending, F/F, F/M, Flirting, Kissing, Past Jane Foster/Thor, SHIP DARCY LEWIS WITH ALL THE THINGS, Secret Admirer, Socks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 03:30:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13778724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatrinaSL/pseuds/CatrinaSL
Summary: Darcy just wants to get through this stupid group project alive. But apparently she's got a secret admirer. A secret sock admirer.





	1. The Suspects

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShinpeiHolic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinpeiHolic/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marvel U AU: Your basic college au. For more details about living arrangements, etc, read [A New Chapter Begins](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12462063).
> 
> This fic is for ShinpeiHolic, who is my darling. She won a follower giveaway on my tumblr, and this is (rather belatedly) her prize. Love you, bb! ♥
> 
> Thanks to phoenix_173 for betaing!

Coulson pulled his chair up to the table and glanced over his shoulder at the professor. Darcy shared a glance with Sharon and Thor, then checked behind Phil. The professor was distracted, lecturing Sam's group. He apparently didn't care for the topic they had chosen.

"I'll be quick," Coulson said. "I TA'd for this guy last year. It was for another class, but he's tenured, so you know he's set in his ways. As long as your presentation is flashy enough—but not too flashy, Miss Lewis—he's not even going to read your paper. Just make sure you write a convincing intro and conclusion paragraph, and a couple of sentences after and before so he doesn't suspect anything. Fill the rest with statistics about cats or watermelon kool-aid, I don't care. If he _does_ decide to read it, I figure Sharon can say it was an experiment for the psych department."

"Putting it on me, Coulson?" Sharon said with a grin.

"I'll tell him I authorized it, if you want," Coulson sighed, rolling his eyes. "He might go for that. But this is beside the point. After this we are  _ even _ , Miss Lewis."

Darcy blinked and tried her best to look like she had been paying attention. "Right, yeah, definitely," she agreed, without knowing what she was agreeing to.

It wasn't that she thought that whatever Phil had to say was boring. _She_ was the one with leverage, _she_ was the one who had called in the favor to make the dreaded "this group project is 20% of your grade" situation easier.

But she was also the one who had gotten groped under the table during his monologue.

Well, not  _ groped _ . Whoever it was had nudged her skirt off her knee and run their fingers up her leg to tease at the edge of her ridiculous argyle thigh high stocking.

She thought that probably earned her a pass to miss the TA's speech, no matter how helpful it had probably been.

"Well, make sure to use this time wisely," Coulson advised in a slightly louder voice, maybe hoping that the professor would overhear. He stood up and scooted the chair in. "I look forward to seeing your final project."

Darcy watched him walk away, wondering if maybe...

"What do you _have_ on him, anyway?" Sharon asked.

"That's for me to know and you not to find out," Darcy said, fully aware that she was blushing. Maybe her group partners would chalk it up to whatever dirt she had on Coulson.

She considered his back side as he stopped at another group to answer a question. Was he interested in her? Had it been his hand on her knee under the table? Had they bonded the day she learned his secret? And what was with that long sleeved shirt, with its sleeves rolled up to the elbow?

"Are we really going to..." Thor began, drawing Darcy's attention back to the matter at hand. He looked around to make sure they wouldn't be overheard. "Take the advice we've been given?"

"Well, yeah, but also no," Darcy said. Thor was watching her intently. Or was it intensely? He and Jane were on-again, off-again, and last she knew they were on, but she could have been wrong. His fingers skimming over her thigh would definitely prove that they were in the "off-again" category. She eyed him as she went on. "Now we know the professor's not going to care if our paper sucks. We can each write a page, string them all together, and one of us can do a beginning and end to wrap it all up."

"Okay but what did be mean by 'flashy but not too flashy,' do you think?" Sharon asked.

"I have no idea," Darcy lied. Actually the perfect example of “flashy but not too flashy” was Sharon herself: she was gorgeous, but didn't flaunt it like some people. Though when she  _ wanted _ to flaunt it, she turned everybody's head. She hasn't needed to get all decked out  to get Darcy's attention, but it had taken seeing Sharon dressed up for an athletic banquet for Steve to finally admit he was attracted to her. Darcy was there when he asked her out for the first time, and she still winced at the memory of her let-down:

"You wanna see a movie sometime?" Steve asked, spinning a football in his hands nervously.

Sharon looked him over, glanced at Darcy, then said, "Are you asking for you or for her?"

A simple 'no' would have done just fine, but Darcy admired Sharon's style (no matter how brutal a burn it had been for her bff's ego).

But just because Sharon had turned him down didn't mean that Steve's loss was Darcy's gain. ...Or did it? Had Sharon been the one tracing the patterns on Darcy's argyle socks under the table?

Darcy continued to ponder the mystery while her group made plans for their project. When class was over, she still wasn't any closer to the answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic has a choose your own ending. As such, the following chapters are not meant to be read in order. All three follow a different path that diverges at the end of this chapter. You get to decide who Darcy's Secret Sock Admirer is.
> 
> For Thor, read Chapter 2 (Thor).
> 
> For Sharon, read Chapter 3 (Sharon).
> 
> For Coulson, read Chapter 4 (Coulson).
> 
> You may, of course, read all three paths, but returning to the first chapter before you go down a different path will likely be less confusing than reading all three paths one after the other.
> 
> Happy reading, and I'd love to hear in the comments which path was your favorite!


	2. Thor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane updates her relationship status and Darcy finally admits that she's always had a secret crush on Thor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marvel U AU: Your basic college au. For more details about living arrangements, etc, read [A New Chapter Begins](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12462063).
> 
> This chapter directly follows Chapter 1 (The Suspects).

Darcy was working on her portion of the presentation when the bathroom door swung open and Jane said, "help?"

"Are you okay?" Darcy asked, hopping up.

"I just..." Jane sighed. "I can't get this clasped."

Darcy frowned, taking her in. Hair up, makeup on point, little black dress, killer shoes nearby ready to be deployed, and her grandmother's necklace, the one with the dark green stone. Darcy had clasped that necklace for her the night of senior prom, the night Thor told her he was going home after graduation instead of staying like they'd planned. These days, she only ever wore it when she was pissed at him.

"What's up?" Darcy asked, working the fiddly clasp until the jewelry was secure around her friend's neck.

"Thor and I broke up," Jane informed her, leaning close to the mirror to do another check on her eye makeup. "According to his father, I 'sully the arm of his first born.' He called me a goat."

Darcy gasped. " _Thor_ called you a goat?!"

"His asshole of a father did," Jane clarified. "Then Thor got all defensive started talking about me being the best woman he's ever been with, and then we walked out of there. But _you_ know, Darcy."

Darcy did know. She just wasn't sure what exactly it was that she knew.

Jane sighed and sat down on the closed lid of the toilet seat next to her. "We've been rocky for ages. It wasn't going to last. When we left his dad's place, we were acting like we would be together forever, but as soon as we got in the car, we agreed that we needed to end things. Not because his dad wants us to, but because it's only going to get harder for us from here. And, yeah, his dad telling us that we shouldn't be together wasn't going to help, but he's away so much that it's hard to even call what we have a relationship. What he really needs is somebody to be there for him when he's around but who won’t take it as hard as I have when he's gone for long stretches of time." She looked up at Darcy. "Someone like you."

Darcy blinked at her. "Wait, did you talk me up to your brand new ex-boyfriend?"

Jane grinned. "You know you've always thought he was hot."

"Well, yeah, but only in an appreciative sense. I'm not going to mack on your man."

"He's not mine anymore," Jane reminded her. "And he's always had at least _half_ a crush on you."

"Wait, what?"

"And since Thor travels so much, it would look like a casual relationship from the outside no matter how serious it got. That was our problem. well, _my_ problem, I guess. I couldn't handle the distance. We kept telling his dad we were totally in love even though Thor was always taking off for wherever. It must have seemed insincere." She crinkled up her face as she reached for a shoe. "I kind of get it now, actually. Doesn't make up for him calling me a goat, but whatever."

"Okay, I'm... glad you're not weeping into your dress this time, but I'm still confused," Darcy said.

"About which part?" Jane asked, seeming perfectly willing to explain, just like she had in their high school biology class.

"The part where you're breaking up with your boyfriend and fixing him up with me in the same breath, mostly," Darcy admitted.

Jane laughed. "Well, I mean, you getting together with Thor is up to you, really. But I do think you'd be good together. I know it always seemed kind of silly to you every time I'd lose it when he was traveling."

Darcy tried not to look guilty. Jane was right, she'd never really understood the fuss Jane would make when Thor would go away for a few months. Yeah, he _might_ be meeting other people, but if he said he would stay true, what was there to be worried about? And if he _wasn't_ true, what was the big deal? The end result was that he came back.

"Yeah," Jane said, grinning like a successful yenta. "You guys'll be great together."

Darcy remembered the touch under the table from the day before and narrowed her eyes. She opened her mouth to ask if Jane knew for sure that it had been Thor's hand on her knee, but paused, figuring that even though Jane was shoving Darcy at her ex, she might not want to know all the details about it.

"Who are you going out with tonight?" she asked instead.

Jane's grin turned wicked. "His brother," she replied.

"But... I thought..." Darcy jumbled out.

"Yeah," Jane said, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "Thor might need to stay in his dad's good graces, but Loki is different." She stood, and spun. "How do I look?"

There was no other answer for Darcy to give than, "Fucking hot, dude."

Jane giggled. _Jane_ . She opened the door into the living room and flounced out. _Jane_. Flounced.

Darcy followed to find Loki standing there talking to Mack.

His eyes lit up as he took Jane in, and he bowed in that mocking way he always did, only with slightly less mocking than usual. "Miss Foster," he greeted, holding out his arm for Jane.

Jane went up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, then winked at Mack and grinned at Darcy. "Don't wait up."

Darcy stared at the door after they left. "What just happened?" Mack asked, sounding just as dumbfounded as she was.

Darcy shook her head. "I have no idea."

* * *

 Darcy was just entering the library when her text alert went off. She dug around in the pocket of her coat for her phone as she headed for the study room where she was going to meet her group to finish up their presentation. It wasn't until she'd pried the door open that she finally got the text pulled up. It was from Sharon.

Gonna be late

fucking parking is shit

Darcy blinked at Thor, who was sitting serenely at the table, smiling up at her.

"Hi?" she said.

"Hello," he returned, his expression changing to a pleased-something that Darcy wasn't sure she entirely approved of.

"Sharon," she explained, waving her phone. "She's... she'll be a while, I guess."

"Yes," Thor agreed. "I received the same message."

"That makes sense," Darcy replied. She put her bag down in the closest chair, but didn't let the door close behind her. "I'm gonna... hit the vending machine, then. You want anything?"

He shook his head, that secretive smile still on his face. "I'm fine."

"You sure are," Darcy muttered after she exited the study room. She walked quickly to the vending machines, then pretended to leisurely peruse her options for as long as was plausible before buying the candy bar she knew she’d always planned to get. On the way back to the study room, she texted Sharon:

Where are youuuu

 As she walked as slowly as possible back toward Thor, she tried to figure out why she was literally dragging her feet. Was it everything Jane had said about how she and Thor would be good together? Was it the idea of dating her best friend's high school sweetheart? Or was it that she didn't really want to admit to how long she'd had a secret crush on him?

She paused outside the door to the study room to check her texts again and was just in time to catch Sharon's reply:

 waiting for this dumbass to get the hell out of my way

incessant honking doesn't seem to be doing much

but i'll keep trying

mama didn't raise a quitter

"She's still working on a parking spot, it sounds like," Darcy told Thor.

"We could begin without her?" he suggested.

Darcy shrugged, tossed her candy bar on the table, and started digging her computer out of her bag. She parked herself carefully across the table from Thor, setting the computer between them so he could see her portion of the presentation, but the first thing to pop up on the screen was twitter, and the selfie Jane and Loki had taken the night before.

She closed the window immediately, glancing sheepishly at Thor. "I promise I didn't do that on purpose..."

"It's all right," Thor assured her.

"I'm sorry; I should have—"

"Darcy," he interrupted, unlocking his phone and shoving it at her. "I was just looking at that photo myself."

She looked down at the phone, spotting the same picture on his timeline. He'd liked it, even. "Oh. Yeah. I guess I thought you'd be more, uh… upset? Jane and Loki. It's definitely a thing. That's happening."

He laughed. "It is, at that," he agreed. "I believe that both Jane and my brother entered into the relationship for the benefit of angering my father, but they may be in some trouble, as they seem to be developing real feelings for each other."

"Yeah." She decided not to tell him that she'd peeked out her door at 2:30 that morning when she heard Jane come in and had accidentally seen their goodnight kiss. Well, “kiss” probably wasn’t the right word, since Loki had pinned Jane up against the wall for longer than Darcy had stayed to watch, but... "That's... weird, right? The two of them together? Did you see that coming?"

He shrugged and put his phone back in his pocket. "Perhaps not, but they seem well suited."

"You don't think it's... I mean, like, do you feel like he stole her from you? Or swooped in too soon?"

"Why would I?" Thor asked. "Jane and I ended things amicably, and if they make each other happy, why should I be anything other than happy for them?"

"That's... really mature," Darcy told him. "So you... you'd be... you're ready to move on, too?"

He smiled in reply.

"Right," Darcy agreed. "We should probably..." She turned back to her computer and pulled up her portion of the presentation and got busy showing him the slides she'd made.

It was awkward, though, both because Thor seemed to be paying more attention to her than to the computer, and also because it was difficult for her to show him the slides from the other side of the table while still being able to see them herself.

"Darcy," Thor said eventually, "why don't you come and sit next to me?"

She cleared her throat nervously. "Okay." She smoothed her skirt down as she rounded the table, a movement that had Thor looking at her legs. That was probably the reason, right?

"I like your stockings," he said as she plopped into the chair beside his.

She opened her mouth to ask him if he was the one who'd _liked_ her argyle socks, but changed her mind at the last second and said, "Thanks, me too," instead.

Thor seemed to turn his attention back to the last two slides of her portion of the presentation, so Darcy decided to focus, too.

Except that within thirty seconds, he was touching her knee.

_Again_.

"Okay, we should probably talk about this," Darcy said, pushing the computer aside.

"Talk about what, Darcy?" Thor asked innocently, smiling as his fingertips followed the stripes of Darcy's tights higher.

"Uh, the handsiness, for one?" she replied, gesturing under the table to where his thumb was tracing a pattern on top of her knee as he curled the rest of his fingers underneath.

"Would you like me to stop?"

"Of course not," she huffed. "I just think it might be too soon—I mean, Jane rage-dating your brother is one thing, but—it's too soon, right? Your dad was never on board with you and her, even though you were together for years, doing the whole long distance thing! Won't this... won't it validate all of his objections or whatever?"

Thor sighed. "My father's opinions on my relationships have never held weight with me, Darcy." He inched his fingers up her leg a little, and Darcy bit her lip, noticing how close his lips were to hers. If she just leaned forward... "And it is not as though I am proposing taking you home to meet him."

"What are you—" she began, then paused to clear her throat again. "What _are_ you proposing?"

"Merely that we enjoy one another's company—and your stockings—as often as we both would like," he said.

"That, uh... that doesn't sound terrible," she admitted, licking her lips nervously as Thor leaned closer.

Darcy ended up half in his lap as they kissed each other like they were making up for lost time. She mostly kept her hands in his hair or clutching at the back of his neck, but Thor's hands roamed, over her back, her ass, her shoulders, or tangling in her curls. One of his hands, at least, was on her striped stockings at all times.

It was a little weird to be kissing him, _Thor_ , her best friend's ex. She wondered what might have happened if they had made out in high school, at that one party Erik had thrown when Thor and Jane were off-again. Would Jane have had to go through all that stress with Thor and Loki's dad being an ass to her? Would Darcy still be kissing Thor in the study room at the library?

"Oh my god."

Darcy gasped and leaned away from Thor's lips, spotting Sharon standing in the doorway. She was rolling her eyes.

"Sharon—" Thor began.

"No," Sharon said, cutting him off. "I guess it's good I wasn't five minutes later." She sighed. "Do you want me to come back, or can you two keep your hands off each other for long enough for us to finish this stupid group project?"

"I think we'll be okay, right?" Darcy said, glancing at Thor. The heat in his eyes told her that he would have preferred that Sharon was five minutes later, but Darcy crawled off of him anyway. "We'll be okay," she told Sharon. "And the sooner we get this done, the sooner—"

"Okay," Sharon interrupted again, holding out a hand to stop her. "I don't want to know." She shook her head, a smile on her face despite her professed annoyance. "And can I just say it's about damned time? The sexual tension between you, ugh. It was getting painful to be the third person in the room with you two."

Darcy laughed, glancing at Thor, who was still looking at her with undisguised desire.

"Okay, well, we got through most of my section..." she began, scooting her chair away from him a little before sitting down.

Sharon took a seat next to her and paid attention, just as Thor seemed to be.

But his fingers were stroking up and down the stripes on Darcy's stockings under the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations! You have reached the end of **Secret Sock Admirer: Thor Edition**! You are cordially invited to read the other two paths, but it is advised that you go back to the first chapter (The Suspects) and choose a different path from there. The following two chapters are not a continuation but different branches of the story and contain different pairings.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment before you go!


	3. Sharon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sharon studies Darcy. For educational purposes only, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marvel U AU: Your basic college au. For more details about living arrangements, etc, read [A New Chapter Begins](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12462063).
> 
> This chapter directly follows Chapter 1 (The Suspects).

Sharon blew out a sigh as Darcy closed her laptop at the end of their second meeting.

A meeting that did not include anyone's hand on Darcy's knee but _had_ featured someone's toes lightly grazing her shin. Coulson wasn't there so he was obviously out, but Thor was wearing loafers and Sharon was in some adorable flats, so there were still plenty of suspects.

"You guys still okay with filling out the thing for _my_ project?" Sharon asked, pulling two packets of paper out of her binder.

"The thing for... what?" Darcy said, blanking.

"This is for the psychology project, correct?" Thor asked, reaching out to take one as Sharon held them out. "It goes along with the questionnaire we all took the first day of class, yes?"

"Yup," Sharon replied. "I'm auditing this and a couple other courses where a group project is a big percentage of the grade. And I'm also studying the way people work in groups in the _real_ world... I've lined up shadows at an engineering company and an architecture firm for later in the semester, but a lot of my project is focused on the effectiveness of group projects for college students, so it would really help me out if you'd do the thing." She pushed the other packet toward Darcy.

"This rating system will not skew your data?" Thor asked, frowning at the second page.  He read: "'Please consider the following and rate on a scale from "not the worst" to "I would literally rather set myself on fire."'"

"My professor approved it," Sharon said with a shrug. "I didn't want it to be boring."

"And there will be another... at the end of the course?" Thor guessed.

"After the presentation," Sharon said, nodding. Darcy finished and looked up to find Sharon watching her. "Done?"

Darcy nodded. "Think we need to meet to slap the paper together, or do you guys just want to do that online?"

Sharon opened her mouth to answer, but Thor got there first. "I don't think another meeting will be necessary..."

"Got that social life to get to, don't you?" Darcy observed with a quirk of her brow.

Thor smiled innocently. "Perhaps."

"Did I hear something about you and Helen Cho?" Sharon asked, tucking their finished questionnaires away. "You like 'em brainy, huh?"

" _I_ like when they like _me_ ," Thor said, doing that thing where he made it sound like his statement was the last one on the subject. It had always driven Jane nuts; Darcy just wondered how he did it.

"I mean... same," Sharon agreed when he was gone.

Darcy nodded, wondering if maybe she...?

"So I guess I'll see you at the presentation?"

"Sure," Darcy said, and Sharon smiled at her, picked up her bag, and left.

Darcy sighed, wishing she'd just looked under the table earlier.

* * *

"Why don't you just _ask_ one of them?" Steve queried, tossing the football in the air as he lay on the floor with both feet propped up on the back of the couch.

Darcy turned from the kitchen counter, where she was sitting while she fancied up the group's paper on her laptop, and glared at him. "Because I don't want to look like an idiot," she said. "Remember looking like an idiot?"

Steve caught the ball and sighed, looking away as he waited for the inevitable.

"Oh yeah, I remember," Darcy continued, grinning as she pretended to recall even though it had been on her mind since she'd begun to suspect Sharon of being the secret admirer of her socks. "You asked her out and she shot you down. In front of, like, half the school."

He sighed again and tossed the ball into the air once more.

"So, yeah, I didn't really want to repeat the experience as the main character. It was sad enough as an onlooker."

"You wouldn't have to ask them in front of _everybody_ ," Steve mumbled.

Darcy frowned at her computer and inserted a comma in Thor's section of the paper before turning back to Steve. "I know, I'm sorry I'm being mean," she said. "The fact that this is a group thing doesn't help. I just... I'd rather get it over with first before I start interrogating people."

"Isn't Thor seeing someone else now that he and Jane broke up?" he asked, tilting his head to look up at her.

"Yeah, last I heard he was taking Betty out this weekend," Darcy told him.

"Betty?" Steve repeated, catching the ball before it hit his face and rolling onto his side. "Ross?"

Darcy pressed her lips together and nodded. "Bruce is studying abroad this semester, and... I dunno. Maybe things aren't going well on the long distance relationship front."

"I thought he was dating Jemma," Steve said.

"Shhh!" Darcy hissed. "You don't mention that in this apartment. Jemma still feels guilty about it, like she betrayed Jane or something, even though Jane could not care less. And Fitz gets weird...er. Than usual."

"Are the two of them—" Steve began, but at that moment Skye exited the bathroom on the girls' side of the apartment, a towel wrapped around her chest that barely grazed her thighs, pulling a brush through her hair.

"Hey, Mack and Hunter are getting pizza for everybody tonight, right?" she asked as she headed for the refrigerator.

"Yeah," Darcy replied, laughing.

"Why is that funny?" Skye wanted to know.

"It's not," Darcy laughed. "He is."

Steve scrambled to his feet, rushed out an apology, and dashed for the door.

"Oh my god!" Skye exclaimed, covering her chest with her hands as though it wasn't already covered with towel. "I didn't realize anybody else was here!"

"He's been here as long as you were in the shower," Darcy told her. "He was helping me with my secret sock admirer problem."

"Oh, that?" Skye replied, looking at something between the kitchen counter and the couch. "Just ask them. Humiliation over, makeouts for all." She stepped over and grabbed the football Steve had apparently abandoned in the face of Darcy's hot, wet roommate.

"Okay, fine," Darcy huffed, rolling her eyes. "But _you_ should take that back to Steve. Whether you get dressed first or not is optional."

"But I—he—" Skye sputtered.

"What, you think we BFF here because it's fun? Steve has _one_ roommate. I have _seven_ . It's _much_ easier to have an LOTR marathon at his place."

"Oh."

Darcy watched realization dawn on her roommate's face.

Then Skye smirked. "Well... I'll go talk to him if you lay down the law next week with Sharon and/or Thor."

That wasn't even a hard decision. Darcy held out her hand to shake. "Deal."

* * *

 "I think that went okay," Darcy said, as she paused in the study area outside the classroom post-presentation, making sure to shove her laptop more securely into her backpack.

"I agree," said Thor. "It is perhaps the best group project experience I have had."

"Oh—speaking of that," Sharon said suddenly, plopping her bag onto the table and digging inside. "I've got some questionnaires for you guys..." She found what she was looking for and held one out to Thor and other to Darcy. Then she paused, double checked them, and crossed her arms, holding the opposite one than before in front of them.

Darcy and Thor exchanged a glance, but each took the packet and sat down at the table to fill it out.

"Is it okay if I answer 'myself' for the 'who did the most work' question?" Darcy asked.

"Absolutely," Sharon assured her.

"I'm putting you down for that as well," Thor said. "You arranged the meetings, edited the paper..."

"Pasted the slides together," Sharon continued.

"Yup, I'm awesome," Darcy agreed.

"And you have the most ridiculous socks," Thor said.

Darcy looked down at her light blue Jack and the Bean-socks, with the vines and the goose and the golden eggs, and took a deep breath. "That reminds me," she began. "I wanted to ask you guys—"

"Finished," Thor interrupted, flipping the packet shut and handing it back to Sharon.

" _Already_?" Darcy asked, frowning. She had at least four questions left. "Hang on, I—" She focused on the next question, trying to hurry.

It said,

##### Please circle 'yes' or 'no' in response to the following:

##### Did you find any of your fellow group members attractive?

##### If yes, did you find that their presence distracted you from learning?

##### If yes, would it benefit you to work with less attractive group members in the future?

##### Would you date one of your fellow group members if they were to ask you out to dinner this weekend?

Darcy stared at the page, and Thor cleared his throat, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

She shook her head and said, "Sorry, uh, never mind. I... You can go. I'm good."

"Really?"

Darcy nodded, waving him off as she scribbled down her answers. "Go."

Sharon waited patiently, if a little nervously, Darcy thought, until Darcy flipped her questionnaire closed and pushed it across the table to her.

"Thanks," she said, but she didn't look at the questionnaire. "I... like your socks."

Darcy smirked. "Wait until you see the ones I'm gonna wear this weekend." She stood and swung her backpack onto her back. "Pick me up Saturday at 7."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations! You have reached the end of **Secret Sock Admirer: Sharon Edition**! You are cordially invited to read the other two paths, but it is advised that you go back to the first chapter (The Suspects) and choose a different path from there. The other two chapters are not a continuation but different branches of the story and contain different pairings.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment before you go!


	4. Coulson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy has something on Coulson. So after she finishes her group project, she puts something on for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marvel U AU: Your basic college au. For more details about living arrangements, etc, read [A New Chapter Begins](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12462063).
> 
> This chapter directly follows Chapter 1 (The Suspects).

Darcy couldn't even remember why she had knocked on Coulson's door that day—probably she went to ask something about how they could get Hunter to take out the trash when it was his turn; that was definitely one of their suite's FAQs.

But he'd opened the door and was going on about Dorm Harmony or some other RA BS that Darcy honestly wasn't listening to... and that's when she heard it.

The Pokémon Theme.

"Are you... listening to music?" she interrupted.

"What?" Coulson said, seeming startled by her question.

"Or watching a cartoon?"

Coulson's face went completely red. "I don't know what you mean," he lied.

So Darcy started singing along. "I will travel across the lands, searching far and wide—"

Before she could get to the hook, the RA dragged her into his room and slammed the door behind them.

"It's background noise," he assured her. “For studying.”

Darcy nodded, unconvinced. "Uh-huh," she said. "That's why you have a Pikachu pillow case."

Coulson flushed. "I—Don't tell anyone about this, please."

"Why?" Darcy asked, baffled. "It's not a big deal. You're allowed to like stuff."

"I'm the RA. People need to respect me, not tease me about my hobbies."

"Okay, but like, I can almost guarantee that no one'll care," Darcy told him. "You'd be hard pressed to find anybody who hasn't played the games or watched the movies or whatever."

"And I'm sure they all attend card tournaments on the weekends," Coulson agreed.

"Wow, okay, yeah," Darcy said with a nod. "You're a special kind of nerd, Coulson."

"Just don't tell anyone," Coulson pleaded. "I'll do anything."

Darcy raised her eyebrow. "'Anything' like be my slave for a month?"

"Let's be reasonable," Coulson sighed.

"Ooh, what about that class I have where you're the TA?" Darcy gasped. "There’s that one project that’s like 20% of my grade, and I have to demonstrate how well I work with others? Ugh. I'd do pretty much anything to lessen  _ that _ torture."

"'Anything' like be my slave for a month?" Coulson echoed.

Darcy smirked. "Let's be reasonable," she repeated.

Coulson sighed, eyeing Darcy while he weighed his options. "Fine," he said. "You keep your mouth shut, and I'll make your group project less hellish if I can. And after that we are  _ even _ , Miss Lewis."

Darcy got a little tingle in her spine when he called her that. "Yes sir, Mr. Coulson." 

Coulson rolled his eyes as he pulled the door open so Darcy could exit.

"You know, I had some Charmeleon footie pajamas when I was a kid," Darcy offered as she backed out.

The door snapped shut, but Darcy could have sworn there was a smile on Coulson's face.

* * *

Darcy couldn't help thinking about that smile as she left her group meetings. Or when the professor congratulated she and her fellow group members on an excellently done presentation. Or when she looked up her grade online and excitedly texted both Thor and Sharon to make plans to celebrate.

Or when she pulled on her brand new pair of leggings and skipped down the hall to thank the RA.

"Did you need something?" he asked, as he leaned out the door.

Darcy listened, but didn't hear any familiar music.

"Miss Lewis?"

"Uh, no, not really. I just wanted to say thanks for—"

"—For something that never happened?" Coulson interrupted, glancing up and down the hallway to make sure they weren't overheard.

"Thanks for  _ being you _ ," Darcy emphasized.

Coulson looked like he was fighting (but losing to) a blush. "Well, same to you."

"And I wanted to ask if you'd like to come out with us to celebrate,” she told him with a grin. “Sharon, Thor, and I got an A on our presentation."

"Oh, well, I... have something going on this weekend..." 

Darcy smirked. "I figured," she said. "That's why we're doing it Thursday."

Coulson frowned, and Darcy wondered if he was trying to come up with an excuse because he was her RA or because he trying to think of how to excuse being her secret sock admirer despite that fact. 

So she decided to deploy her secret weapon.

"Do you like my new leggings?"

Darcy watched his eyes drop to the hem of her long sweater as she hitched it up a little, as though she didn't already have plenty of knee and calf exposed.

She turned in a circle so he could see Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur warring for space on the patterned leggings. She'd stayed up late shopping for them online after her first group meeting sans-Coulson. The meeting had definitely not included anyone's hands on her legs, so she'd laid it out for Thor and Sharon, who both denied any sock-touching, appropriate or otherwise.

Phil stared at her legs. "I, uh, I have a late class Thursday night."

"Oh." Darcy said. She slumped a little, feeling kind of stupid. What had she expected, that she'd walk down the hall to the RA's room, flash a little leg, and receive a heated confession in return? Maybe she had. Maybe she'd been hoping he'd pull her into his room, press her up against the door, and—

"But I'm free right now."

"What?" Darcy blinked, emerging from her thoughts.

"Right now," Coulson repeated. "We could go out." He ran his eyes over her again. "Or stay in."

Darcy began to smile, slowly. "So you  _ do _ like my leggings?" she said.

"Miss Lewis," Coulson said, stepping back so that she could enter. "I think you know I do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations! You have reached the end of **Secret Sock Admirer: Coulson Edition**! You are cordially invited to read the other two paths, but it is advised that you go back to the first chapter (The Suspects) and choose a different path from there. The previous two chapters are different branches of the story and contain different pairings.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment before you go!

**Author's Note:**

> [Reblog on tumblr](http://catrinasl.tumblr.com/post/171225355303/secret-sock-admirer)
> 
> Tumblr: [catrinasl](http://catrinasl.tumblr.com)
> 
> Twitter: [@Catrina_SL](http://twitter.com/Catrina_SL)


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